
{"id":11178,"date":"2010-06-24T13:49:02","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T21:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=11178"},"modified":"2010-06-24T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T21:50:09","slug":"farewell-to-a-%e2%80%98steady-hand%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/06\/24\/farewell-to-a-%e2%80%98steady-hand%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsteady hand\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Taylor Sisk<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nCARRBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Robert Wells was mayor the first day Sarah Williamson came to work. That was July 5, 1972, and Williamson was fresh out of Durham Tech and a day shy of 20. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be retiring as Carrboro town clerk at the end of this month.<\/p>\n<p>Williamson \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who grew up in Chapel Hill, out by University Lake, and graduated from Chapel Hill High School \u00e2\u20ac\u201c arrived at Carrboro Town Hall to cover for Vergie Arrington, who handled a variety of responsibilities and was going out on maternity leave.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They were looking for someone to fill in and do some of her work while she was out,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williamson said recently, seated in her Town Hall office, one of several she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s occupied in the building across her 38 years of service to the town. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been all over this building.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When Vergie came back, I continued with the town clerk work and she went full-time to finance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Ruth West succeeded Wells as mayor in 1975. Robert Drakeford followed in 1977.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The town was a whole lot smaller then,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williamson said of her early Town Hall days. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Back in those days, we had water and sewer and bills and taxes and everything in here, so more people came into Town Hall. The police department was here then; the recreation department was downstairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Of course, we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a computer then. We used mimeograph machines to print the agendas, getting black ink everywhere. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carbon paper. We used carbon paper. There weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even any copy machines. I had to go downstairs to do that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>James Porto was elected mayor in 1983 and Ellie Kinnaird in 1987, and Carrboro was growing apace.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The town has grown a lot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williamson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think for the better. I like change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly kept up.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She knows this town inside out,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Town Manager Steve Stewart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009dSarah is just an incredibly important person to the town of Carrboro, and just a really great person.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>To board of aldermen member Jacquie Gist, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sarah embodies what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really good about Carrboro. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dedicated to her family and to her neighbors. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very, very professional and comes to her work with a sense of pride.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s magnificent,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kinnaird. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She was just the most professional person in carrying out her duties. There would be arguments going on all around her, and she would just be going about her business, doing her job in the most competent way.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She knew how things were supposed to be, so you could always count on her.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Mike Nelson took office in 1995 and Mark Chilton in \u00e2\u20ac\u212205 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c seven administrations for Williamson.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I tried to talk her out of retiring, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to really miss her steady hand,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stewart said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wish her all the best in her retirement. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be really missed by all of us at Town Hall.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Williamson isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t retiring, per se, right away. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to walk out that door. Starting Aug. 4, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll work part-time for the town, probably through November, till someone is hired and trained. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not sure what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll then come next. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to miss the people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known some of these people for a long, long time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell you what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to miss: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure not going to miss those board meetings.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11179\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11179\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2010\/06\/24\/farewell-to-a-%e2%80%98steady-hand%e2%80%99\/p6225785\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11179\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"P6225785\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P6225785-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11179\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KIRK ROSS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Wells was mayor the first day Sarah Williamson came to work. That was July 5, 1972, and Williamson was fresh out of Durham Tech and a day shy of 20. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be retiring as Carrboro town clerk at the end of this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11178"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11183,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11178\/revisions\/11183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}